A Lesson In Respect.

Respect. I came to Austin to get up on the latest and greatest in interactive. I’ll leave with a lesson in respect.

My first session, Achieving Real-time Relevance, addressed the need to respect consumers on social media. Don’t abuse your power as a brand by commandeering natural conversation. Don’t push out content for the sake of content. Don’t fall back on “me-too” marketing. In short, respect your consumers.

And then I went outside. And then I got a little (read: a lot) annoyed. It was as if all of the brands with a presence at SXSW had completely missed the memo.

First there was the pop up Bates Motel- a life size replica of the hotel featured on A&E’s new series, Bates Motel. The space served no purpose. You couldn’t walk in. There was only a sign directing you to tweet using the hashtag #BatesMotel. Sure, the novelty alone made me stop to take a look. But there was absolutely zero payoff. And I left feeling disrespected.

Then there was the myriad of brand “activations” surrounding the convention center. Subway had some sort of digital staring contest. At&t had a giant bubble. Chevy had a car display. All in all- remarkably irrelevant stuff. But that’s not what rubbed me the wrong way. Sometimes an installation misses the mark. As a consumer, I can forgive that. But what I can’t forgive is how steadfast these brands were in using me to promote themselves. Each station was equipped with its own photographer to snap photos of the line outside of their event. Never mind the actual activation, they wanted to prove that the event was exclusive.

And then there were the hashtags. Pushing, pushing, PUSHING you online to offer up some thought in distant relation to their brand. More on #HashtagHappy brands later, but for now I’ll say that once again, I felt disrespected.

So what makes for a good brand activation? It boils down to three things.

1. Relevance (Does it make sense for your brand to be at SXSW? Are you a tech/innovative company? No? Then, this probably isn’t the right place for your brand. I’m looking at you Subway)

2. Value (What’s in it for the consumer? What are you bringing to the party? How will I remember you? When in doubt, grilled cheese seems to go over well with the people)

3. Respect (What’s your motivation? Are you here to entertain/engage/enlighten? Or are you here to make a splash and get some good PR? If nothing was written about your activation, would you still consider it a success?)

It’s time for brands to wake up. Consumers aren’t pawns. We’re not walking “impressions.” We’re people. And we deserve some respect.

Asher Stamell
Junior Strategist USA